PHOENIX (CN) — A federal judge in Arizona denied pretrial release to two people indicted alongside Samuel Rappylee Bateman, a self-proclaimed prophet accused of sexually abusing nearly a dozen underage girls from 2019 to 2022.
An FBI investigation accused Bateman, 46, of using his power as the leader of the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to marry and sexually abuse underage girls. The Fundamentalist Church is a subset of the Mormon Church, which no longer condones polygamy.
Bateman married Marona Johnson in September 2019, taking her from Rifle, Colorado, back to his hometown of Colorado City, Arizona.
By the time of Bateman’s arrest in August 2022, he had more than 20 wives, 12 of whom he transported from Nebraska, Colorado and Utah back to Colorado City, according to the investigation. Ten of his wives were minors when he married them; the girls were as young as nine and as old as 17, according to a probable cause affidavit.
“She was the first wife, who then watched as others were getting sucked in,” U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich said as she granted the government’s motion to revoke Johnson’s pretrial release. “She is devoted to Mr. Bateman and will do whatever he says. Which makes her a threat.”
The FBI accuses Bateman of ordering his wives to participate in orgies, which he called “atonement ceremonies,” to forgive them for “wicked deeds.” If male followers acted out of turn, he would punish them by sleeping with their own wives or making them sleep with his. Johnson participated in the sexual acts with many of Bateman’s child wives, according to the investigation.
“She had her 10-year-old sister strip naked to watch criminal sexual activity with minors,” prosecuting attorney Dimitra Sampson told Brnovich.
A superseding indictment filed May 18 describes her actions with Bateman’s followers as well as an attempt to hide a USB drive containing messages between Bateman and his wives when police searched her home. But the only crime she is charged with is transferring obscene material to a minor.
Johnson’s attorney painted her not as a co-conspirator, but as a victim of Bateman’s manipulation.
“Her parents allowed Bateman to marry my client at such a young age,” Jocquese Blackwell told Brnovich. “They also allowed Bateman to marry her siblings, at a very illegal young age. It’s an abomination.”
He argued it’s unfair to deny Johnson release based on accusations in the indictment that she isn’t actually charged with.
Brnovich wasn’t convinced, nor was she convinced that Torrance Bistline, one of Bateman’s male followers, should be released before trial either.
“The defendant engaged in an alleged sexual abuse of a 12-year-old at the direction of defendant Bateman,” Brnovich said. “He’s also charged with other counts of obstruction of justice.”
Bistline’s attorney asked that he be allowed to live at home in Colorado City with his mother so long as he wears an ankle monitor. Brnovich refused.
Arizona Department of Public Safety troopers arrested Bateman on Aug. 28 on charges of child endangerment after they noticed a girl’s hand sticking out of a box trailer pulled by Bateman’s truck. Bateman then made multiple phone calls from the Coconino County Jail to Johnson, Bistline and other followers and wives telling them to delete his account and all of their messages on Signal, the messaging app they used to communicate.
His family bailed him on Sept. 1, but he was indicted five days later on three counts of destruction of evidence. He was arrested in his home in Colorado City on Sept. 13, and nine of his 12 wives were put into Arizona Department of Child Services custody. None of the girls told investigators about any sexual conduct, but entries in their journals detailed the events.
More than a month later, eight of the nine girls disappeared. Then in the Central Arizona Florence Correctional Complex, Bateman made multiple recorded video calls between Nov. 27 and Nov. 29 to three women who were seen to be in cars or hotels with the eight missing girls.
“The defendant knew of the wives’ attempt to abduct the eight kids from DCS custody, and offered to aid in that abduction,” Brnovich said.
The FBI tracked all eight of the girls to an Airbnb in Spokane, Washington, and took them back into custody. Naomi Bistline, Donnae Barlow and Moretta Rose Johnson were soon charged with kidnapping.
A grand jury issued a superseding indictment on Dec. 14, slapping both Bateman and those three wives with two counts of destruction of evidence and two counts of kidnapping. A second superseding indictment followed five months later, totaling 56 counts against Bateman and 10 others for crimes such as transporting a minor for sexual activity, coercing a minor to engage in sexual conduct and production of child pornography.
A trial is tentatively set for March 2024, but defense attorneys indicated in today’s hearing said that they will need more time to prepare.
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